Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor
Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

NY-based Brightbox continues to gain traction in the secure mobile device charging locker vertical. It is the official mobile device charging sponsor of the 2015 Coffee Fest held at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, GA from February 6th to 8th.

Visa the exclusive payment services partner for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, announced cardholders now have exclusive access to pre-sale individual tickets for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 to be held in six Canadian cities this summer.

Wells Fargo has become the first major U.S. financial services provider to introduce the ability for customers in The Wells Fargo Rewards® Program to redeem their rewards at more than 12,500 Wells Fargo ATMs.

NY-based CardFlight has introduced version 2.0 of its SwipeSimple mobile application. First launched in 2014, the SwipeSimple solution includes encrypted mobile card readers, payment acceptance applications for iOS and Android devices, a real-time reporting and admin dashboard for merchants, and a reseller portal for easy onboarding and portfolio management.

MO-based Clearent has teamed with MicroSale to integrate its credit card processing with Version 9 of MicroSale’s restaurant software solution. MicroSale dealers now have the option to use Clearent as their integrated payment processor when selling Version 9.

Austin-based SimplyTapp has raised an additional $2.5M of their Series B financing round from Mozido, elevating the total amount of funding raised to $10.1M. The new infusion of capital will allow SimplyTapp to ramp up R&D by expanding its core engineering team and bolster channel support for global partners.